Today’s visit with BB went very well. I introduced him to the magical world of bubbles, he loved them, he was totally enchanted until I wouldn’t let him put the little bubble blower in his mouth, he is definitely strong willed! A little later in the visit he decided today was a good day to show me his crawling and climbing skills, he was all over the play room today. It was nice to see that he was comfortable enough to move around and show me his stuff!
This afternoon I had what I thought was a good idea, I decided to ask the front desk at the hotel for a street map so I could take a different path on my walk. Sure, they gave me a map, no problem, not for them anyway. I think it’s in Kazakh, if not it’s in Russian, neither of which I can read. Even if I could read one of the two, some of the street signs are in Russian and some are in Kazakh so the map didn’t do me much any good, I don’t know what I was thinking.
I walked during their ‘rush hour’ today, the traffic and noise are just like New York City, it’s very heavy and they are not afraid to use their horns! I must look like I belong, twice I was stopped and I’m assuming asked for directions. I have no idea what they wanted and I’m pretty sure they had no idea what I was saying either. To those of you who said I should have learned a few words of Russian before I left, maybe you should have told me to learn a few Kazakh words too! There is no way I could have learned enough of either of these two languages for it to be of any assistance to me. I would’ve also had to learn to differentiate between the two, no way, I’ll stick with my few English words and be happy with that!
Tomorrow I’m going to the baby house very early so I should be able to feed BB, we’ll see. Have a good day/night, Chris
Friday, February 29, 2008
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Baby House Day 4
Today was the day that the doctor was finally available to come to the baby house to see BB. We got to the baby house late this afternoon and the medical went well. BB still does not react when he sees me but today when the caregiver tried to take him he turned away from her and grabbed onto me. The caregiver was impressed, I know I liked it. I have a meeting with my translator and coordinator so I’ve got to go now. Take care, Chris
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Very Special Delivery
Today was an interesting day, my translator is a college student and she had exams today so she was unable to join us on our trip to the baby house. I had to go to the baby house early today because we had to make a ‘special delivery’. My driver, Dusen picked me up at 8:30 this morning. I was told yesterday that we would be going to a hospital to pick up three babies, the ‘special delivery’, and transport them to the baby house. Off we go to a very remote hospital, we wait awhile and three nurses come out with three very small swaddled babies. Two of the babies were lay down on the back seat of the car, one of the nurses joined us and she held the other baby for the ride to the baby house. The nurse was a very interesting looking woman; she was all dressed up and had a shinny gold tooth. As it turns out, it was two baby girls and a baby boy, one was 12 days old, one was 5 days old and the other was 3 days old. Apparently at least two of the mothers were teenagers who delivered the babies and left. The babies slept all the way to the baby house, we pulled right up to a different door, a nurse came out and the three babies were swept inside immediately. There were a lot of images of that trip that I don’t think I’ll ever forget. The hospital was in an extremely remote and what seemed to be a very poor area. I say it seemed to be a poor area but I really can’t tell, it looked like many of the other areas I’ve seen as we drive out of the city to the baby house each day. All of a sudden I realized that these people may not be poor, this appears to be just the way they live in this part of Kazakhstan. It was actually enlightening as well as upsetting to realize how much we have at home and how little some of these people have but to them it’s just their way of life. Interesting and enlightening.
One of the things that I have to do everyday is to have a couple of pictures taken with me and BB. These pictures have to be dated and they will be submitted to the court with the adoption petition. The past two days my translator took the pictures, but as I mentioned earlier, she was not with us today so Dusen my driver had to come in to the baby house and take the pictures. Let me tell you a little about Dusen, he is a Kazakh who speaks Russian and he likes to talk! Dusen knows a few English words and when we try to talk if he doesn’t know the words in English he just switches to Russian and talks to me like I should understand every word he’s saying, it’s funny. Needless to say our communication is very limited. The drive to the baby house is a little over an hour each way. Dusen has a cassette player in his car and he plays a Russian/Kazakh rap music tape most of the time. My translator told me the people singing switch back and forth between Russian and Kazakh. Dusen also sings along to the tape on occasion, now that’s entertainment! So we go into the baby house and into the room where we are waiting for BB. Dusen notices that there is a piano in the room so he goes right over and begins to play. He plays a song or two and then he starts playing ‘My Bonnie lies over the ocean, my Bonnie lies over the sea’, I said, I know that one and he says American music, cowboy music. I just laughed at him, it was pretty funny.
BB was good today. He likes to be held and he likes to be held up high, good thing I’m tall! I have tried to put him on his blanket so he will play with his toys but he’s not too happy about that. The orphanage director told me through my interpreter that he wants love so he just wants to be held. Today was the first day he let me put him down on his blanket, he crawled a little and played for a minute or two and then he had enough. He also sat on my lap, which he hasn’t done before because it's not high enough up, and ‘played the piano’. He was banging on the keys for quite awhile. Hopefully he’s becoming more comfortable with me. We spent about an hour and a half together and then they came to get him. Tomorrow I am going to the baby house with my coordinator and the doctor for BB’s medical. Hopefully all will go well. Take care, Chris
One of the things that I have to do everyday is to have a couple of pictures taken with me and BB. These pictures have to be dated and they will be submitted to the court with the adoption petition. The past two days my translator took the pictures, but as I mentioned earlier, she was not with us today so Dusen my driver had to come in to the baby house and take the pictures. Let me tell you a little about Dusen, he is a Kazakh who speaks Russian and he likes to talk! Dusen knows a few English words and when we try to talk if he doesn’t know the words in English he just switches to Russian and talks to me like I should understand every word he’s saying, it’s funny. Needless to say our communication is very limited. The drive to the baby house is a little over an hour each way. Dusen has a cassette player in his car and he plays a Russian/Kazakh rap music tape most of the time. My translator told me the people singing switch back and forth between Russian and Kazakh. Dusen also sings along to the tape on occasion, now that’s entertainment! So we go into the baby house and into the room where we are waiting for BB. Dusen notices that there is a piano in the room so he goes right over and begins to play. He plays a song or two and then he starts playing ‘My Bonnie lies over the ocean, my Bonnie lies over the sea’, I said, I know that one and he says American music, cowboy music. I just laughed at him, it was pretty funny.
BB was good today. He likes to be held and he likes to be held up high, good thing I’m tall! I have tried to put him on his blanket so he will play with his toys but he’s not too happy about that. The orphanage director told me through my interpreter that he wants love so he just wants to be held. Today was the first day he let me put him down on his blanket, he crawled a little and played for a minute or two and then he had enough. He also sat on my lap, which he hasn’t done before because it's not high enough up, and ‘played the piano’. He was banging on the keys for quite awhile. Hopefully he’s becoming more comfortable with me. We spent about an hour and a half together and then they came to get him. Tomorrow I am going to the baby house with my coordinator and the doctor for BB’s medical. Hopefully all will go well. Take care, Chris
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On the way to the baby house we spend time on a road that would take us all the way to China if we kept going. The road is flanked by these mountains, the Zaiilisky Alatau (I believe that is the correct name) mountains. This mountain range runs form Kazakhstan to China and on the other side of the mountains is Kyrgyrstan.
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Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Baby House Day 2
Not long after I posted last night, I received a phone call, today's schedule had changed. We had to go to the baby house today after lunch and nap time so I didn't get to feed baby boy (BB) today, I think I'll have that opportunity tomorrow because we're going in the morning.
Today's visit went very well, I gave BB a toy, he immediately picked one of the pieces up, had a really good grip on it and tried to put it into his mouth. That's pretty much where it stayed the entire time. He's got two bottom teeth in already and two top teeth coming in so after my visit today I went and got him a teething ring. I'll see tomorrow if he still wants the toy or the teething ring.
On Thursday the doctor is coming from the SOS clinic. These are doctors who are trained in Western medicine and understand the Kazakh diagnosis. He will review BB’s medical records, discuss them with the baby house doctor, let me know what he finds in them then do a full evaluation and discuss everything with me. I will have plenty of opportunity to talk to the doctor because we will be picking him up and driving him back to the clinic. At least my fee includes a house call, ha ha ha. I spoke to an International Adoption doctor at home and read a lot about what to look for when you meet your child. Right now BB is showing a lot of signs that he is a very healthy little boy. He makes great eye-contact, he smiles and laughs, he can pick up a toy and hold onto it tightly, he responds to his name, and he gets very excited and happy when he sees his caregivers. I’ll see what the doctor says on Thursday, hopefully all is well.
This morning I went for a walk and made a couple of observations, one is that Kazakh people have an innate ability to walk on ice. There can be anywhere from a sheet to a couple of inches of ice on many of the sidewalks here in the city. They walk along as if the ground is dry, today I saw a man in dress shoes running on the ice, show-off!! When I mentioned it to my translator, Asiya, she was surprised that I even observed it, they just do it. Let’s hope I learn to do it before I take a fall, so far so good! Another observation is that most cars are driven by men; I saw only a handful of women driving. Asiya told me that in the younger generation more women are driving but in the older generation women just don’t drive as much as men. Last observation for the day, a large part of the population here smokes, they smoke a lot and they smoke everywhere. It is not uncommon to see someone with a cigarette in one hand and a fork in the other. Asiya was very surprised when I told her that we are not allowed to smoke in public places but she liked the idea.
I’m going to end this now; I’m hoping that I finally get some sleep tonight. Talk to you all tomorrow. Chris
Today's visit went very well, I gave BB a toy, he immediately picked one of the pieces up, had a really good grip on it and tried to put it into his mouth. That's pretty much where it stayed the entire time. He's got two bottom teeth in already and two top teeth coming in so after my visit today I went and got him a teething ring. I'll see tomorrow if he still wants the toy or the teething ring.
On Thursday the doctor is coming from the SOS clinic. These are doctors who are trained in Western medicine and understand the Kazakh diagnosis. He will review BB’s medical records, discuss them with the baby house doctor, let me know what he finds in them then do a full evaluation and discuss everything with me. I will have plenty of opportunity to talk to the doctor because we will be picking him up and driving him back to the clinic. At least my fee includes a house call, ha ha ha. I spoke to an International Adoption doctor at home and read a lot about what to look for when you meet your child. Right now BB is showing a lot of signs that he is a very healthy little boy. He makes great eye-contact, he smiles and laughs, he can pick up a toy and hold onto it tightly, he responds to his name, and he gets very excited and happy when he sees his caregivers. I’ll see what the doctor says on Thursday, hopefully all is well.
This morning I went for a walk and made a couple of observations, one is that Kazakh people have an innate ability to walk on ice. There can be anywhere from a sheet to a couple of inches of ice on many of the sidewalks here in the city. They walk along as if the ground is dry, today I saw a man in dress shoes running on the ice, show-off!! When I mentioned it to my translator, Asiya, she was surprised that I even observed it, they just do it. Let’s hope I learn to do it before I take a fall, so far so good! Another observation is that most cars are driven by men; I saw only a handful of women driving. Asiya told me that in the younger generation more women are driving but in the older generation women just don’t drive as much as men. Last observation for the day, a large part of the population here smokes, they smoke a lot and they smoke everywhere. It is not uncommon to see someone with a cigarette in one hand and a fork in the other. Asiya was very surprised when I told her that we are not allowed to smoke in public places but she liked the idea.
I’m going to end this now; I’m hoping that I finally get some sleep tonight. Talk to you all tomorrow. Chris
Monday, February 25, 2008
Two Down, Ten To Go
As you can tell, I arrived safely in Kazakhstan, the flights were good with no problems and my luggage arrived with me so it’s all good. While I was on the first flight I realized that I will be making twelve very long flights to complete this process, then on the second flight I realized that two were down already and I only have ten more to go, what’s better than that? Don’t answer that! One more comment about the flights then I’ll tell you what you really want to know, on the first flight I watched a beautiful sunrise then only a few short hours later I watched an incredible sunset, the colors were so vivid on both, I coulden't stop watching them. What an experience in just a few short hours to see the sun rise and set like that, it was amazing!
After a very short night’s sleep, I was picked up at the hotel and started a day that will change my life forever. This morning after two interviews, one at the Ministry Of Education and one at the Baby House in Issyk, I was approved to go forward, I went through the required processes and then I met my son. He’s a happy little boy, he was smiling and laughing at me while I was playing with him. I was only able to see him for a short time today, we were running right up into nap time. They asked me if I wanted to visit at a time when I can feed him, of course I do, so I think my visits will be scheduled early in the day. They also told me he loves to eat, that he gets excited when the meals are being prepared and he hears the silver-ware, Gary does he remind you of anyone???
As most of you know I can’t post any pictures or any information about him until this is final, so you’ll have to just listen to me.
That’s it for now, I going to try to get some sleep tonight. Keep those comments and e-mails coming, I look forward to them. Take care, Chris
After a very short night’s sleep, I was picked up at the hotel and started a day that will change my life forever. This morning after two interviews, one at the Ministry Of Education and one at the Baby House in Issyk, I was approved to go forward, I went through the required processes and then I met my son. He’s a happy little boy, he was smiling and laughing at me while I was playing with him. I was only able to see him for a short time today, we were running right up into nap time. They asked me if I wanted to visit at a time when I can feed him, of course I do, so I think my visits will be scheduled early in the day. They also told me he loves to eat, that he gets excited when the meals are being prepared and he hears the silver-ware, Gary does he remind you of anyone???
As most of you know I can’t post any pictures or any information about him until this is final, so you’ll have to just listen to me.
That’s it for now, I going to try to get some sleep tonight. Keep those comments and e-mails coming, I look forward to them. Take care, Chris
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Last Post Before I Fly
My visa arrived yesterday along with eight inches of snow... but my flight is still scheduled to leave on time tonight, thant's the good news. Now if only I had heat. I woke up this morning with no heat, five hours later and I'm still waiting for the service guy to show up. I'm just having too much fun right now. I'll post again when I can.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
I Received My LOI!!!
Today I received my LOI - Letter of Invitation to travel to Kazakhstan. I will be leaving next weekend, 2/23 or 2/24 for Almaty Kazakhstan. I have to be in Almaty on the morning of the 25th. I will be going to Issyk once I arrive in Kazakhstan and I will be there until March 13th. Issyk requires three trips, the first trip is about twenty days, then I come home and wait for my court date, once I get that I go back for two to three days. Then I come home once again and wait for the final processing to be completed, when I go back it is for three or four days, then we come home as a family. My heart is racing, I'm very excited and I can't believe how much I have to do before I go, but it's all good!
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